29 Facts About Sue Townsend

Sue Townsend was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole.

Sue Townsend enjoyed great success in the 1980s, with her Adrian Mole books selling more copies than any other work of fiction in Britain during the decade.

Sue Townsend was poor until well into her thirties, and used her experiences of hardship in her work.

Sue Townsend was born at the Maternity Hospital in Causeway Lane, Leicester, the oldest of three sisters.

Sue Townsend's father had worked at a factory making jet engines before becoming a postman, while her mother worked in a factory canteen.

Sue Townsend attended Glen Hills Primary School, where the school secretary was Mrs Claricotes, a name she used for the school secretary in the Adrian Mole books.

At the age of eight, Sue Townsend contracted mumps, and was obliged to stay at home.

Sue Townsend's mother bought a collection of Richmal Crompton's Just William books at a jumble sale which Townsend read avidly.

Sue Townsend left school at the age of fourteen and worked in a variety of jobs including packer for Birds Eye, a petrol station attendant and a receptionist.

Sue Townsend married Keith Townsend, a sheet metal worker on 25 April 1964; the couple had three children under five by the time Townsend was 23.

Sue Townsend would collect used Corona bottles, to redeem the 4p return fee by which to feed her children.

Sue Townsend later recounted that it was the start of her writing which became the Adrian Mole books, looking at life through the clinical eyes of a teenager but in a comedic manner.

Sue Townsend then chose to research the world of teenagers, and started attending youth clubs as a volunteer organiser.

Sue Townsend was introduced to William Ash, then chairman of the Soho Poly, who likewise played a significant part in shaping her early career.

Sue Townsend met writer-director Carole Hayman on the stairs of the Soho Poly theatre and went on to develop many theatre pieces with her for the Royal Court and Joint Stock, including Bazarre and Rummage and The Great Celestial Cow.

At the time of writing the first Adrian Mole book, Sue Townsend was living on the Eyres Monsell Estate, near the house in which playwright Joe Orton was brought up.

The first two published stories appeared in a short-lived arts' journal entitled magazine, in the editing and production of which Sue Townsend was involved, featuring the character then still called Nigel Mole.

Michael Billington writes that Sue Townsend "was ahead of the game" in treating the royal family as a suitable subject for drama.

On 25 February 2009, Leicester City Council announced that Sue Townsend would be given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester.

Sue Townsend became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993.

In 1991 Sue Townsend appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Sue Townsend's chosen book was Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and her luxury item was a swimming pool of champagne.

Sue Townsend describes being "mesmerised" when seeing Aneurin Bevan, the prime mover of the British welfare state on television for the first time.

Sue Townsend was a chain smoker, had tuberculosis, peritonitis at 23 and had a heart attack in her 30s.

The condition led to Sue Townsend's being registered blind in 2001, and she wove this theme into her work.

Sue Townsend had degenerative arthritis, which left her reliant on a wheelchair.

Surgery was carried out at Leicester General Hospital and Sue Townsend spoke to the BBC about her illness on an appeal for National Kidney Day.

Sue Townsend died at her home on 10 April 2014, eight days after her 68th birthday, following a stroke.

Sue Townsend was survived by her husband, four children and ten grandchildren.